Question for those witha CHP.

[NCMedic]

Concealed out and about... may OC if I'm working on my property....I'm less concerned about printing than I used to be. Don't think people pay attention, last time I had someone stare at my waist I asked if they wanted to see my colostomy bag...

 

[Prosecutor]

I feel like people only open carry to show how cool they are with their first gun. I know thats not always true, but most of the time I see people OC'ing, this seems like the case. I see a lot of people open carrying compact guns like Shields. I don't understand, if concealment is not a factor, why carry a small, limited capacity pistol? I'm sure they are just waiting for their permit to come in. Or maybe they even had a CC permit denied.

I never open carry. I don't see a reason. I don't carry to intimidate or impress anyone. I don't want to make a political statement. I carry for self defense and I'd rather have the advantage of concealment.

Doesn't the Ruger chip their teeth?

 

[MostWanted]

That approach probably works fine where I know you are located, or any similar sized community sufficiently outside a major metro area.

On the flip side, I've been in this blue-voting airport-concourse-like town of 150k people I call the Containment Area for 28 years and can't recall ever seeing anyone OC, ever. Why would I want to cause heads to explode unnecessarily if I don't need to? I can't single handedly acclimate all these blue voters to my 2A stances, so the less fear and agitation I cause these sheep, the less likely they are (I hope) to "get out the vote" to further limit my current freedoms.

IIRC, Cary has an exemption to the NC pre-emption. In short they're one of the few places in NC that can - at the municipal level - ban OC. I'm not a lawyer and I can't find the reference off the top of my head, but I distinctly remember it jumping out at me as strange when I went through the process for my license (early 2013).

Cary doesn't have any exemption, and they don't have any prohibition on OC beyond what most municipalities have. They are actually pretty reasonable with their gun laws. They don't challenge state law in any way. Stay off the sidewalk, don't walk down the street with it, otherwise you are pretty good.

I OC a few times a year and I'm usually wearing head-to-toe cammo, boots, and an orange hat. If anybody says anything it's usually something like "how did you do out there today?". One time I was in a bind because I had been hunting, didn't have time to change clothes before the dry cleaner closed, and needed the clothes the next day. So I stopped in there. The owner knows me as a regular and humorously asked me, "are you going to shoot me with your gun?". I answered, "I don't know, are you going to crush my buttons?".

I see OC maybe a few times a year. In recent memory, Food Lion, once at REI, Target, Sheetz, Lowes Home Improvement.